ENGLISH 2COURSE GUIDE

2018

Department of Literary Studies in English

Course Coordinator: Prof. Dirk Klopper

WELCOME TO ENGLISH 2

The Department of Literary Studies in English seeks to stimulate and develop the imaginative and critical faculties of all of its students. In both its teaching and research activities, it is guided by the goals of cultural enrichment and social justice.

In particular, the Department is committed to:

• developing a South African-centred curriculum which nevertheless sees English as a world language and includes a wide range of literature in English from other parts of the world, including the rest of Africa;

• situating the detailed study of individual literary works and authors within a more general inquiry into matters of cultural history, genre and language;

• exposing students to a variety of critical, theoretical and scholarly orientations and fostering appropriate argumentative skills;

• promoting correctness, clarity and precision of expression in student speech and writing;

• sustaining a challenging learning environment both through lectures and through the facilitation of student discussions in small group tutorials.

This Course Guide and the Guide to Essay Writing will answer many of your initial questions.

CONTENTS

1. Staff 2018 1

1.1 Lecturing staff 1

1.2 Administrative staff 1

2. About English 2 1

2.1 Aims of the course 1

2.2 Course materials 1

2.3 Problems 2

3. Course content 2

3.1 Course overview 2

3.2 Paper descriptions and prescribed works 2

3.3 Recommended works 4

4. Duly Performed (DP) requirements 4

4.1 DP requirements 4

4.2 Tutorial attendance 4

4.3 Lecture attendance 4

4.4 Leave of absence (LOA) applications 5

4.5 LOAs and missed tutorials 5

4.6 LOAs and extensions for assignments 5

5. Lectures 5

5.1 Listening, thinking and learning 5

5.2 Lecture attendance 6

6. Tutorials 6

6.1 Reading, talking and writing 6

6.2 Tutorial attendance 6

7. Written assignments 6

7.1 Assignment dates 6

7.2 Submission of assignments 7

7.3 Marked assignments 7

7.4 Departmental marking notch system 7

8. Examinations and calculation of marks 9

8.1 June and November examinations 9

8.2 Class mark, exam mark and final mark 9

9. Using the library 9

9.1 Open shelves 10

9.2 Reference section 10

9.3 Periodicals section 10

9.4 Short loan 10

9.5 English Subject Guide 11

10. Using the Internet 11

11. Further resources and support 11

11.1 Recommended reference works 11

11.2 The Department homepage 12

11.3 RUconnected 12

11.4 Noticeboards 12

11.5 The audio-visual room 12

11.6 Consultations 12

12. Student support and academic development 12

12.1 Tutorials 12

12.2 Course Coordinators and Paper Coordinators 13

12.3 Class representatives 13

12.4 Course evaluations 13

12.5 Academic development tutor 13

13. Deregistering 13

14. Lecture and tutorial timetables, and assignment dates 1414.1 Lecture timetable and assignment dates 1414.2 Tutorial timetable 16

1. STAFF

1.1 Lecturing staff

Name E-mail Room

Klopper, Prof. Dirk d.klopper@ru.ac.za 39Marais, Prof. Mike m.marais@ru.ac.za 20Marais, Dr Sue (HOD) s.marais@ru.ac.za 27McGregor, Dr Jamie j.mcgregor@ru.ac.za 38Naidu, Prof. Sam s.naidu@ru.ac.za 37Phiri, Dr Aretha a.phiri@ru.ac.za 35Seddon, Dr Deborah d.seddon@ru.ac.za 24Spencer, Dr Lynda Gichanda l.spencer@ru.ac.za 21Walters, Prof. Paul p.walters@ru.ac.za 8Wylie, Prof. Dan d.wylie@ru.ac.za 10

1.2 Administrative staff

Name E-mail Room

Khanyile, Ms Siphokazi s.khanyile@ru.ac.za 3(Office Administrator)Youthed, Ms Tammy t.youthed@ru.ac.za 4(Part-time Secretary)

2. ABOUT ENGLISH 2

Students who take English 2 will extend and consolidate the knowledge and skills acquired in English 1. The texts studied in English 2 are grouped into four papers offered in consecutive terms: Transnational Literature, Romanticism and Revolution, Regionalism in English and South African Fiction, and The Modernist Revolt. Designed around specific literary movements, the course requires an understanding of the prescribed texts in relation to the contexts in which they were produced.

The papers or either six or seven weeks in length, depending on the term within which they fall. There are three lectures and one tutorial per week (see 14.1 and 14.2 for the lecture and tutorial timetables).

2.1 Aims of the course

A student who has passed English 2 should be able to:

understand what constitutes the literary qualities of texts in terms of the linguistic and stylistic strategies they deploy;

interpret literary texts in relation to the historical and cultural contexts in which they were produced; relate literary texts to appropriate critical traditions and intellectual paradigms and practices; discuss and assess various interpretations of literary texts through integrating individual insight with established

readings; demonstrate the ability to construct well-focused, clearly formulated and logically coherent arguments.

2.2 Course materials

After registering, you will be given copies of the following, which will be handed out at the first lecture and thereafter made available in the administrator’s office (Room 3):

the English 2 timetable, on which you should record the times and room numbers of your tutorials in each semester (check ROSS to determine which tutorial slots have been assigned to you);

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the English 2 Course Guide (this document) and the English Department Guide to Essay Writing; the tutorial pack for the first paper.

All of the above materials will also be available on RUconnected.

2.3 Problems

If you encounter any problems with the course, the first person to speak to is your tutor. If your tutor is unable to help, then speak to the English 2 Course Coordinator (Prof. Dirk Klopper) or one of your Class Representatives (see section 12.3 below). You should see the Office Administrator (Room 3 on the ground floor), if you wish to change tutorial groups.

3. COURSE CONTENT

3.1 Course overview

The English 2 course starts with Transnational Literature, which deals with the contemporary concerns of a literature characterised by national and cultural border crossings. Romanticism and Revolution explores what is arguably the founding moment of modern English literature, showing how the shifting power relationships in late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century Europe are inscribed in a literature that questions the very nature of authority. Regionalism in English and South African Fiction examines identity and locality in selected works from mid-nineteenth century England to post-apartheid South Africa. The Modernist Revolt introduces students to the concerns and modes of expression of an early-twentieth century literary movement that sought to ‘revolutionise’ an aesthetic practice dominated by the romantic and realist modes of nineteenth-century literature.

The course thus takes students on a literary journey that starts with the global present of transnational migrations, looks back at the early-nineteenth century shift in English poetry to a more individual and subjective literary consciousness, traces historical changes in the practice of literary regionalism from mid-nineteenth century England to the contemporary Eastern Cape, and concludes with the interruptive stylistics of literary modernism.

3.2 Paper descriptions and prescribed works (N.B. THE INFORMATION PROVIDED IN BRACKETS REFERS TO RECOMMENDED EDITIONS)Paper 1: Transnational Literature (Prof. Sam Naidu)

Literature which explores the lingering impact of colonialism, and which engages with the experiences of diaspora, migration and exile is the focus of this paper. Using English as their language of literary expression, writers have created new literatures that transgress and transcend constructed national boundaries. In particular, this literature explores how the crossing of boundaries, real and conceptual, affects personal and overarching histories, and national, ethnic and cultural identities. Also of interest is the issue of how the authors’ transnational subjectivities influence their literary aesthetics.

The paper provides an examination of texts selected from the vast and diverse terrain of postcolonial Anglophone writing. Students will first study Anil’s Ghost, a text about the return of a migrant, by an author from Sri Lanka who now resides in Canada. Thereafter we move to a selection of short stories from Jhumpa Lahiri’s Interpreter of Maladies, a collection which represents the experiences of South Asian migrants in the USA. The focus then shifts to South African poet Arthur Nortje, to explore how South African texts can also be transnational and how exile and migration intersect with South African concerns. Finally, students will read Small Island, a novel about the relationships between migrant and host cultures by an author who is a descendent of Jamaican immigrants to the UK.

Michael Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost (Picador 9780330480772)Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies (Houghton Mifflin 9780395927205)Arthur Nortje, Selected Poems (text provided)Andrea Levy, Small Island (Headline Review 9780755355952)

Paper 2: Romanticism and Revolution (Prof. Dirk Klopper)Page | 2

English Romantic poetry of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth century was written under radical conditions. Aside from the political revolution, which sought to democratise a hierarchical social order, and the industrial revolution, which sought to change the material environment, the period also initiated a revolution in ethical thought, which emerged around issues such as the emancipation of human potential, the abolition of slavery, the assertion of the rights of women, the challenge to religious orthodoxy, the reassessment of sexuality, and the reconsideration of the meaning of nature. The paper explores in what ways the forms of literary expression that characterise this historical moment can be seen to exemplify a ‘stylistics’, if not of revolution, then at least of dissent.The paper studies selected poetry and prose by key Romantic figures, including the feminist pronouncements of Mary Wollstonecraft and Anna Barbauld, the radical individualism of Jean Jacques Rousseau and William Blake, the naturalism of William Wordsworth and supernaturalism of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the aestheticism of John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, and the passions of Lord Byron. Also included are accounts of the philosophical thinking that informs Romanticism, such as sentimentalism, idealism, empiricism, and scepticism. Of particular interest is the Romantic concern with the scope and function of the imagination, which acts as a focal point of the paper’s literary and philosophical ideas. Romanticism Reader (supplied by Department)

Paper 3: Regionalism in English and SA Fiction (Prof. Dirk Klopper)Regionalism in fiction focuses on the people and features of an actual, provincial locality outside the metropolis, exploring the interrelationship of a local geography and its individual inhabitants. While practising realism in in its depiction of speech, customs and the environment, regionalism is also concerned with the symbolic associations between person and place. Issues explored in this paper include place and history, regionalism and ecology, individuality and communality, sexuality and spirituality. Set in the moorlands of West Yorkshire, England, Emily Brontë’s mid-nineteenth century novel Wuthering Heights is described both as romantic and gothic in its interweaving of nature, desire and death. From this rugged locality attention shifts, in Olive Schreiner’s late-nineteenth century novel The Story of an African Farm, to the bleak expanse of the South African Karoo region, where human aspiration is stunted as much by the prevailing colonial culture as by the inhospitable landscape. With D.H. Lawrence’s early-nineteenth century novel The Rainbow, we are taken to the classic English countryside and local community, though the industrial town close by encroaches upon and disrupts older organic continuities and there is a yearning to venture beyond the confines of village and church. The final novel, J.M. Coetzee’s Disgrace, takes a post-apartheid look at contemporary struggles around sexuality and land on the historical Eastern Cape frontier. Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights (Oxford Classics 9780199541898)Olive Schreiner, The Story of an African Farm (Penguin 9780143185604) D.H. Lawrence, The Rainbow (Oxford Classics 9780199553853)J.M. Coetzee, Disgrace (Random House 9780099289524)

Paper 4: The Modernist Revolt (Dr Jamie McGregor)

This paper aims to introduce students to modernism as an epochal and disruptive impulse in early to mid-twentieth century English literature. Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man transforms the quintessentially romantic form of the bildungsroman through an ironic retelling of the Greek myth of the artificer Daedalus, who is figured in the novel as the modern artist seeking to free himself from the restrictions of country, religion and language. T.S. Eliot’s haunting and enigmatic poems include such pieces as “The Hollow Men”, “Ash-Wednesday”, and “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”, which explore modern consciousness with forensic rigour. In Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, an intimate account of personal loss coincides with the global catastrophe of the 1914-18 world war. Moving from the British Isles to the American Deep South, the paper ends with the doomed and dysfunctional inhabitants of Faulkner’s imaginary Yoknapatawpha County in As I Lay Dying.

James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (9780007449392)T.S. Eliot, Collected Poems 1909-1962 (Faber 9780571105489)Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse (Collins Classics 9780007934416)William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (Vintage 9780099479314)

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3.3 Recommended works

The following text is highly recommended for reference purposes, and should be purchased by every student intending to proceed to English 3:M.H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham (eds), A Glossary of Literary Terms (Wadsworth Cengage 0495906599).

All students are required to possess a good dictionary (not a “pocket” edition), such as Collins, Cambridge, Concise Oxford or Compact Oxford Dictionary for Students.

There are also very good internet sources, including the Online Etymology Dictionary, which describes the linguistic origins of words and is useful in tracking the meaning of conceptual terms (https://www.etymonline.com/).

4. DULY PERFORMED (DP) REQUIREMENTS

4.1 DP requirements

The term “Duly Performed” or “DP” indicates that you have completed sufficient work to allow the English 2 credit to be awarded. The Department has three DP requirements for English 2:

90% attendance of tutorials. In other words, you are permitted to miss TWO tutorials during the course of the year but if you miss any others, you are required to apply for leave of absence (LOA);

submission of all 4 essays; writing the June and November examinations (4 exams in total).

4.2 Tutorial attendance

N.B. 90% attendance of tutorials is a DP requirement.

“Attendance” does NOT simply mean being present, but (a) having read the prescribed works, at least as far as the sections that will be discussed in the tutorial, (b) having read the tut sheet and prepared brief answers to the questions in advance, and (c) having prepared whatever written work may be required.

If you have NOT done all of the above, your tutor is within his/her right to mark you ‘absent’. To arrive unprepared for a tut means that you will have little of value to contribute and are basically sponging off the efforts of your tutor and fellow students, rather than trying to work independently.

4.3 Lecture attendance

N.B. Although lecture attendance is NOT an official DP requirement, attendance registers will be kept so that lecturers and the Office Administrator can monitor erratic attendance. On a monthly basis the Office Administrator will contact students who have consistently been defaulting, and she will inform the Course Coordinator accordingly.

You are strongly advised to attend ALL of your lectures, because the information with which you are provided is linked to your tutorials, assignments AND the kinds of questions you can expect in the examinations. In other words, there is a definite correlation between lecture attendance and essay/exam performance. By the same token, if you miss lectures on the assumption that exam papers from previous years will provide sufficient indication of the approach that has been adopted, you may find yourself baffled by the ACTUAL exam questions.

It is also important that you keep up with the material (lecture notes, articles, power point slides etc.) that lecturers post on RUconnected. In the event that lectures are disrupted by student protest action, this material becomes even more crucial, and you will be expected to familiarise yourself with it and to contact the relevant lecturer should you have any queries. Informal workshops/seminars will also be arranged, either on or off campus, during protest action, so that you do not fall behind with your work.

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4.4 Leave of absence (LOA) applications

If, on medical, compassionate or other valid grounds, you are unable to attend a tutorial (having already missed two during the course of the year) or are unable to submit an assignment by the due date, a Leave of Absence (LOA) form must be obtained from the Office Administrator, completed (supported by relevant documentation e.g. doctor’s certificate, letter from counsellor/parent/ warden, notification from sports body), and returned to her. She will then inform you whether your LOA has been granted. No LOAs will be approved without valid supporting documents.

N.B. Failure to submit LOA applications will result in the loss of your DP, and you will not be permitted to continue the course or to write the examinations.

4.5 LOAs and missed tutorials

Normally, an LOA application will only be considered if it is submitted before the scheduled tutorial. In exceptional circumstances, however, an LOA application may be submitted after the tutorial has taken place, provided this application is received within ONE WEEK of the missed tutorial.

N.B. It is YOUR responsibility to contact the Office Administrator to inform her that you are/were unable to attend a tutorial: LOAs submitted retroactively (i.e. after seven days) will not be accepted.

At the end of each term, an email will be sent to students who have failed to attend the required number of tutorials and have not submitted LOA applications. The email will indicate that they have lost their DPs, and have one week in which to appeal against this ruling by submitting a DP Appeal form (available from the Office Administrator). This will be forwarded to the HOD, who will then inform students about the outcome of their appeals.

4.6 LOAs and extensions for assignments

Extensions for assignments will only be granted on valid medical or compassionate grounds. Lecturers and tutors are NOT empowered to grant students extensions; only the Office Administrator may do so.

N.B. A maximum of one extension per semester will be granted.

Should you fail to submit an assignment on the due date, without having applied for an LOA (plus supporting documents), you will receive an email from the Office Administrator, who will indicate that the relevant assignment must be submitted within seven days to be considered for DP purposes, but will receive a mark of “0”.

Students who do not submit essays will lose their DPs at the end of the term. They have one week in which to appeal against this ruling by completing and submitting the relevant DP Appeal form (available from the Office Administrator), who will then inform them of the outcome of their appeals.

5. LECTURES

5.1 Listening, thinking and learning

Always take the prescribed text with you to lectures.

Lectures are occasions on which a transfer of specific information about a prescribed text takes place, and lecturers often range widely in their discussions in order to incorporate philosophical or theoretical arguments, biographical evidence, historical contextualisation, and interpretive paradigms. They also vary considerably in their styles: some will read from prepared lecture notes, while others will speak more informally.

You are expected to have already acquired the skills of note-taking. While it helps to be able to jot down the important points made in a lecture, do not expect to be able to record every detail of a complex exposition. Cultivate the habit of listening attentively, identifying the main ideas, and noting down the different aspects of the argument and the textual evidence invoked in support. Lectures should serve to stimulate your own reading and thought. Lecturers will also supply you with a list of recommended readings to be found in the library, online, or on RUconnected.

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Lectures will assist you to gain an idea of what sort of approach toward a text is being employed, so that your own thinking and reading can be usefully directed. Although the knowledge and understanding conveyed in a lecture can sometimes be found elsewhere, it will seldom be available in a form as distilled, synthesised and accessible as the lecture itself. Students who miss lectures will find themselves ill-prepared for tutorials, assignments and exams.

Lectures (and tutorials) will be supplemented with coursework material placed on RUconnected. This material will include paper outlines and prescribed works, lecture and tutorial timetables, additional notes and resources on the papers and works, supplementary readings, assignment and exam information, and general announcements.

5.2 Lecture attendance

Though attendance of lectures is NOT a DP requirement, you are strongly advised to be at ALL of your lectures. This is because the information with which you are provided is linked to your tutorials, assignments and the kinds of questions you can expect in the examinations (exam papers from previous years will not provide sufficient indication of the approach that has been adopted).

6. TUTORIALS

6.1 Reading, talking and writing

There is much enjoyment to be had in reading, talking, and writing about literature. Success in English studies depends upon bringing to these fundamental skills your own particular gifts of thought, temperament and energy, and trying to achieve a sufficient degree of competence in literary critical skills to enhance your enjoyment and understanding of the texts you study.

Tutorials (consisting of no more than 15 students) provide a regular opportunity to practise three of the above skills – reading, thinking and talking – and to prepare for exercising the fourth in the writing of assignments. Joining in the discussion is important: a tutorial is a collective undertaking, and you have a responsibility to your fellow students to participate. They and your tutor are not there to judge you but to learn with and from you: try to overcome your shyness, and work on the premise that your opinion is as valuable as anybody else’s. Feel free, too, to introduce new questions or ideas if you think they are relevant to the discussion.

Your tutor will facilitate the discussion and try to respond to any difficulties that arise, but it is NOT the sole responsibility of tutors to ensure that an interesting and stimulating discussion occurs – nor can you expect them to provide ‘the last word’ on any issue being discussed.

Your tutor is also available for individual consultation by appointment (as are all your lecturers).

6.2 Tutorial attendance

Attendance of tutorials is a DP requirement (see section 4). Always bring the relevant text and tutorial sheet with you to tutorials. It is important to be prepared, to have done the required reading, and to have given the questions on the tutorial sheet considerable thought: the benefit you receive from a tutorial depends to a significant extent on how well prepared you are.

7. WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS

In the course of the year, you will be expected to complete a total of four essays (max. 1500 words), one per term. These are due by 9.35am on Fridays, and are placed in pigeonholes, under the relevant tutor’s name, in the foyer of the Department.

7.1 Assignment due dates

Friday 9 March: Ondaatje Friday 11 May: Blake / Wordsworth

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Friday 17 August: Brontë / SchreinerFriday 12 October: Joyce / Eliot

7.2 Submission of assignments

Submission of all written assignments is a DP requirement (see section 4).

Essays and exercises are due by 09h35 on Fridays: the submission dates are listed above and on your lecture timetable (see section 14.1). If you anticipate a problem handing in on time, see the Office Administrator well in advance, as you will need to apply for an extension (see section 4.6). Do not simply hand your essay in late with an excuse.

Assignments are placed in the boxes bearing the relevant tutors’ names, in the foyer of the Department. The boxes designated for the submission of assignments are on the right-hand side: the boxes on the left are for marked essays awaiting collection by students. It is NOT advisable to give an assignment to a friend to hand in, because of the risk that it may end up in the wrong box and be mislaid. Assignments submitted are recorded against the class list by the Office Administrator as soon as they are received. Please remember to include all the relevant information on the front page (see section 1.3 of the Guide to Essay Writing), together with a Plagiarism Declaration form and your Turn-it-in report. A stapler will be provided for use on assignment submission dates.

The boxes are locked at 09h35. Assignments handed in after that time, but before 10h30, will be penalised 10% by the Office Administrator. Assignments submitted after 10h30 and up to noon on the seventh day thereafter, without an accompanying LOA application form and supporting documentation, will be accepted for DP purposes, provided this does not occur more than twice in the year. Such assignments will, however, score “0”, and will therefore make no contribution towards your class record.

Students who do not submit essays will lose their DPs at the end of the term. They have one week in which to appeal against this ruling by completing and submitting the relevant DP Appeal form (available from the Office Administrator), who will then inform them of the outcome of their appeals.

7.3 Marked assignments

Assignments are designed to help you constantly improve a number of skills, such as reading, writing, self-editing, structuring arguments, and providing evidence for your ideas in the form of quotations from the text. In order to improve, you need to engage seriously with the feedback you receive from your tutors: when a marked assignment is returned to you, re-read it, and read all the written feedback provided by your tutor. Attending to this individual feedback is the best way to learn from your mistakes, find out what you have done well, and prepare to do better in future assignments. It is also a good idea to re-read earlier assignments just before you begin to write the latest one, so that the previous feedback on how to improve is fresh in your mind. Make an appointment to consult with your tutor if you have any questions about an assignment you have written and the feedback you have received. All assignments are moderated by the lecturer who has taught the relevant text. However, should you be unhappy about the mark you have received, the correct procedure is to apply to the Course Coordinator for a re-mark.

7.4 Departmental marking notch system

Your essays will be marked according to the following scheme, which the Department uses to ensure that the standard of marking is consistent, despite students having different tutors/markers. On your scripts, markers will allocate ONLY the percentages listed in the right-hand column below; for example, an essay assessed at 2.2- is always allocated 62%, and so on. However, although only certain percentages are used (and not the full range), your final percentage for the year will most likely fall somewhere within the entire range from 0 – 100, and it is on this basis that you will be confirmed as, for example, an upper second on your official academic record for the year.

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DEPARTMENTAL MARKING NOTCH SYSTEM

Symbol Equivalent1 100

95928882

1.1 78(The range for the first class is 75-100%)

2.1 722.2+ 682.2- 62

(The range for the second class is 70-74% for an upper second and 60-69% for a lower second)

3+ 583- 52

(The range for the third class is 50-59%)F 45

40353025150

(Anything below 50% is a failure)

The following gives an indication of what the Department expects of an essay graded according to these categories:

1 82-100 Highly original thought; critical attitude towards text and any relevant secondary reading; evidence of independent reading; comprehensive and focused answer to the question; virtually flawless expression, organisation and presentation. One can scarcely imagine a better answer at its level; it teaches and surprises the marker.

1- 78 Unusually competent if not entirely original; strong evidence of secondary reading, where appropriate; evidence of a critical, thought-provoking and independent argument; accurate referencing; excellent command of detail of text; high level of conceptualisation; very polished if not entirely flawless expression and organisation.

2.1 72 Very competent; not necessarily original, but well-marshalled argument; accurate knowledge of, and attention paid to, details of the text; possibly but not necessarily (depending on year of study) some treatment of secondary works; strong conceptualisation; lucid expression and organisation containing only a sprinkling of errors; strongly nuanced vocabulary.

2.2 62-68 Solid, but not particularly exciting, with little originality; good knowledge of and attention paid to text; some argumentative assertions viable, but possibly arguable or bordering on inaccurate; relatively little use of (or over-dependence on) secondary works; expression and organisation generally lucid, containing some errors but not such as to destroy sense.

3 52-58 Passable; shows basic knowledge of text, despite a few misreadings or factual errors; shows some effort at argument and remaining relevant to the question, though not entirely successfully; naive; almost no originality of thought; expression and organisation regularly flawed but almost always intelligible.

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F 45Almost passable, but too flawed by lack of adequate knowledge of the basics of the text; does not address the topic; lacks coherent argument; does not go beyond pointing out the obvious; expression and organisation regularly flawed to the extent of obscuring sense; little evidence of familiarity with literary terminology.

35 etc. Seriously lacks basic knowledge of the mechanics of the text and shows little/no evidence that primary text/s has/have been read; factual errors; sense consistently lost in errors of language and expression; no argument; fundamentally flawed expression.

8. EXAMINATIONS AND CALCULATION OF MARKS

8.1 June and November examinations

Writing the June and November examinations is a DP requirement (see section 4).

You will write two examinations in June (Transnational Literature and Romanticism and Revolution) and two examinations in November (Regionalism in English and South African Fiction and The Modernist Revolt).

The structure, format and content of individual examinations may vary from year to year, and previous examination questions are not necessarily a reliable guide. Important information about the content and arrangement of examinations will be posted on the English 2 noticeboard and on RUconnected, and conveyed to you in lectures. Please note that any examination may contain a compulsory question on a particular text or topic.

8.2 Class mark, examination mark and final mark

The class mark comprises the aggregated mark for the four written assignments you submit in the course of the year (one per term). This comprises 40% of your final mark. The examination mark represents the results of the four examinations you write in the year (two in June and two in November). This comprises 60% of your final mark.

Assignments and examinations completed in the first semester contribute towards your June mark (40% class mark and 60% examination mark). Assignments and examinations completed in the second semester contribute towards your November mark (40% class mark and 60% examination mark). The June mark and November mark are added together and divided by two to calculate your final year mark.

If you do not achieve at least 40% for your June mark, you may be advised to discontinue English.

9. USING THE LIBRARY

Aside from relevant knowledge and skills imparted in lectures and tutorials, an obvious resource for the writing of assignments and examinations is the library. Pamphlets providing detailed information on use of the library and the resources it contains are available in the library foyer, and additional information is available via the library link on the Rhodes website. Material that you might wish to consult is found on the open shelves, in the reference section, and at the Short Loan desk.

Even though you may be directed by a lecturer or tutor to specific critical works, you are advised to concentrate on getting to know and understand your set texts really well. There is no substitute for such knowledge. Useful approaches to the set works are suggested in lectures and tutorials. What is required in discussions and essays, however, is YOUR response to the text in the light of this guidance, not merely a summary of critical opinions derived from other readers and commentators.

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9.1 Open shelves

Books on the open shelves are arranged according to the Dewey Decimal classification system. The classification numbers most relevant to you are:

800-809 General literary theory810-819 American literature820-829 English literature828.909-828.939 South African literature828.99 African literature

Numbers within these ranges vary according to literary form and historical period, e.g. Elizabethan plays are classified at 822.3, twentieth-century English novels at 823.91. A book’s classification number is completed by the addition of three letters, usually the first three letters of the author’s surname: e.g. Hard Times by Charles Dickens would be found at 823.8 DIC. Locate a book by obtaining its classification number at an OPAC (computerised catalogue) terminal in the library, or via the library link on the Rhodes website.

9.2 Reference section

Books in the reference section on the ground floor of the library include dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and general bibliographies. The most important bibliographies are now available online, including the MLA (Modern Language Association) International Bibliography, which can be accessed via the library’s webpage.

Dictionaries and encyclopaedias of literature and literary criticism are useful sources of information about literary terms and concepts, authors, literary movements, and individual literary works and their critical reception.

Major works include the following:

Cassell’s Encyclopaedia of World Literature R803 CASDictionary of World Literary Terms R803 DICLongman Companion to Twentieth-Century Literature R803 LONEncyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics R803.1 PRINineteenth-Century Literary Criticism R809.04 NINTwentieth-Century Literary Criticism R809.04 TWEContemporary Literary Criticism R809.04 CONOxford Companion to American Literature R810.9 OXFBritish Writers R820.9 BRICambridge Guide to English Literature R820.9 CAMOxford Companion to English Literature R820.9 OXFEncyclopaedia of Post-Colonial Literature in English R820.991712 ENC

9.3 Periodicals section

Journals devoted to English studies are to be found in the Periodicals stacks on the top floor of the library. Check the catalogue to find the location of particular journals. Many journals are now available online via library databases such as JSTOR and EBSCO. You may not always be required to locate journal material yourself as individual articles may well be placed on Short Loan (see 9.4 below) or uploaded to RUconnected. You will increasingly be expected to consult journal articles in order to prepare for essays and examinations by your third year.

9.4 Short loan

Copies of recommended readings on texts with which students are currently engaged are placed on Short Loan in the library (the loan period is one hour). When lectures on the text have been completed, the material will be shifted to 48-hour loan. To find out which materials have been placed on Short Loan for a specific course, or by any particular lecturer, consult the “Short Loan” link under “Catalogue” on the library’s webpage.

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9.5 English Subject Guide

The English Subject Guide, which is located under “Resources” on the library website, contains a wealth of useful and interesting information, plus links to relevant online resources.

10. USING THE INTERNET

The Internet can be a very useful tool, but you are encouraged to use it wisely. Do not be duped into thinking that, because something is posted on the web, the information it contains is reliable or correct. Make sure that the site you are using is a reputable and scholarly source. Check for the letters “ac” (academic) or “edu” (educational) in the URL: this indicates that the page is from a university website, and therefore that the information provided is likely to be accurate. Many websites, designed to ‘help’ students with English literature essays, provide information that is simplistic, misleading, and sometimes erroneous (e.g. Sparknotes.com). AVOID THESE SITES! The information they contain may well have been written by an undergraduate student like yourself in order to earn a little extra money. Why trust these sources above your own ideas?

The Rhodes Library has access to a vast range of online databases for academic purposes. Good website sources include the online Oxford English Dictionary (OED.com); JSTOR, a database of downloadable scholarly articles from reputable journals in many disciplines; the MLA bibliography, one of the largest collections of academic papers in the world; and the GALE group literary website, which provides reliable information on authors and their work. Ask your tutor or a Rhodes librarian for advice on reliable websites to use.

Useful websites offering guidance on academic writing, specifically, include the following:

www.columbia.edu/acis/bartlby/strunk/strunk.htmwww.infoplease.com/homework/writingskills1.html www.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/www.mindtools.com/CommSkill/Writing_Skills.htmwww.studygs.net

11. FURTHER RESOURCES AND SUPPORT

11.1 Recommended reference works

Copies of the following reference works are available at the University bookstore (Van Schaik’s) and/or in the Main Library (Short Loan or Reference section):

Sheridan Baker’s The Practical Stylist (8th ed. London: Longman, 1997): Most students who fail to do well in English 2 have not learned the basic principles of good writing by the end of the year. The Department recommends this text to help you with various aspects of essay writing. Study the book carefully and selectively to correct and improve the grammar, style, and organisation of your written work, particularly when specific faults have been pointed out to you by your tutor.

Nicholas Visser’s Handbook for Writers of Essays and Theses (2nd ed. Cape Town: Maskew Miller Longman, 1992): This handbook contains invaluable information on style and usage, punctuation, grammar, the presentation of essays, and the documentation of sources.

M.H. Abrams’s A Glossary of Literary Terms (10th ed. New York: Wadsworth Cengage, 2010): Every academic discipline has its own terminology. This glossary gives short, clear explanations of important literary terms and their backgrounds. Beyond knowing those terms which are essential to the course, you are encouraged to explore the entire book to acquaint yourself with the fundamental concepts of literary studies.

Dictionary: The wider your vocabulary, the better. Make a habit of learning the meaning of every new word you come across, paying attention to the context in which you found it. Accurate spelling is also important: check that every word is correctly spelt before handing in an essay.

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11.2 The Department homepage

Students can access the Department’s homepage via the Rhodes’ website (under “Academic” – “Departments”), or directly at: http://www.ru.ac.za/english/. The homepage contains information about staff, courses, current events, and resources on the Internet. It also contains a sample of the best undergraduate essays, and pages on crucial academic and literary skills. For example, the entry entitled “Essential Resource Pack” contains detailed guidelines on paragraph and essay writing skills, the analysis of poems and passages, argumentation and theory, and much more.

11.3 RUconnected

Aside from the function of making available teaching, assessment and auxiliary academic materials, RUconnected is also the facility by means of which the Department is able to communicate most directly and quickly with the student cohort as a whole. The News Forum site enables decisions concerning courses to be communicated quickly to students, which is necessary, for example, when there are interruptions to the academic programme. The Department is exploring ways in which RUconnected can be used more extensively even in getting students to interact with relevant course materials, to engage with other students around course content, and to communicate with the Department about the learning and teaching process.

11.4 Noticeboards

In the foyer of the Department there are noticeboards for each course. These provide students with essential information on tutorial groups, current essay topics, and the format of forthcoming exams. It is important to check the English 2 noticeboard regularly, so that you are up-to-date. The foyer also has display boards, on which news cuttings and notices of forthcoming seminars are posted, and cabinets which contain materials relevant to courses currently being taught.

11.5 The audio-visual room

The Audio-visual (AV) Room is number 14 on the middle floor of the Department. It contains a comprehensive collection of audio recordings, videos and DVDs – of plays, poetry readings, adaptations of novels, and other useful background material – together with audio equipment and a large flat-screen monitor. A list of what is available can be consulted in the Office Administrator’s office. If you wish to watch a video or listen to a recording, you must make a booking with her so that you can do so during office hours. Audio-visual material may not be removed from the Department. Occasionally lecturers and tutors will arrange viewings of a popular or course-related DVD/video, and a notice to this effect will be posted on the English 2 noticeboard, indicating the screening time(s).

11.6 Consultations

Consultations with lecturers and tutors may be arranged in advance. Some lecturers post their office hours and the times at which they are available for consultation on their office doors. You may also communicate with tutors and staff via e-mail, if you have an urgent query or wish to arrange a meeting, but Twitter and Facebook should not be used for this purpose!

12. STUDENT SUPPORT AND ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT

This section deals with whom you can consult if you are experiencing problems, either of a personal or academic/course-related nature.

12.1 Tutorials

The Department’s commitment to tutorial groups is an important form of student support, and the tutorial system ensures that every student meets with his/her tutor in a small tutorial group each week. Tutors are always prepared to offer additional support on an individual basis, if requested.

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12.2 Course coordinators and paper coordinators

The English 2 Course Coordinator for 2018, Prof. Dirk Klopper, is also available to answer questions, provide guidance, and assist you if you need support. If you have specific questions about the content or trajectory of a particular paper, these may be directed to the Paper Coordinators: Prof. Sam Naidu (Room 37) for Transnational Literature; Prof. Dirk Klopper (Room 39) for Romanticism & Revolution and Regionalism in English and SA Fiction; and Dr Jamie McGregor (Room 38) for The Modernist Revolt.

12.3 Class representatives

Class representatives are elected during the first weeks of the academic year. They serve as an additional channel of communication between students and the Department’s teaching staff. The Head of Department meets the class representatives, together with Course Coordinators, twice each semester. These meetings are important occasions to give and receive feedback. Frequently ideas for the improvement of the Department’s activities emerge from the discussions. Students often find it useful to communicate opinions on courses or individual members of staff, favourable or not, to the Head of Department, who can then respond appropriately. Class reps may also set up Facebook groups so that members of the class can communicate with each other, and messages can be passed on quickly.

Class representatives are encouraged to approach the Course Coordinator and Head of Department at any time, should the need arise.

12.4 Course evaluations

The Department conducts regular course and teaching evaluations or surveys. Course evaluation is conducted by the Course Coordinator, and teaching evaluation by the individual member of staff concerned. Responses are then referred to the Head of Department. Any policy decisions arising from such evaluations are posted on the course noticeboards and on RUconnected, and communicated to students directly in lectures.

12.5 Academic development tutor

Professor Dan Wylie (Room 10) is the Department’s academic development (AD) tutor, and he is available to offer additional tutoring in academic skills. His role, in this regard, is:

to provide both academic and counselling support to any students who may be struggling with their work; to improve the quality of teaching and learning.

The AD tutor is available for individual consultations, by appointment, to deal with specific problems. On occasion, he will present a range of voluntary enrichment courses, in addition to regular lectures and tutorials. Various skills – such as lecture comprehension, close reading, writing essays, and exam preparation – are covered in these sessions, depending on student needs.

13. DEREGISTERING

If you find that you are over-committed or that, for some other reason, English is simply not for you, please inform the Office Administrator, before you disappear. If you decide to drop English at any stage during the year, even if only after a week or two, you must first arrange to see the Dean of Humanities (in the Faculty of Humanities building/Randall House, on the corner of Somerset and Prince Alfred Streets) to discuss the matter, and inform an administrative staff member in the Student Bureau in Eden Grove. If you do not follow these steps, i.e. deregister officially, you will be liable for the full cost of course handouts and your name will remain both on the Department’s class list and on the University Administration’s Student Record lists, creating confusion.

Feel free to ask your tutors, the Course and Paper Coordinators, and the Office Administrator if you have any further questions about English 2.

We hope that you have an exciting, challenging and successful year, and that we will see you in English 3 in 2019!Page | 13

14. LECTURE AND TUTORIAL TIMETABLES, AND ASSIGNMENT DATES

14. 1 Lecture timetable and assignment dates

FIRST SEMESTER

Week TRANSNATIONAL LITERATURE

Tuesday 16:05(Chem Minor)

Wednesday 12:20(Chem Minor)

Thursday 14:15(Chem Minor)

Feb 12 Transnationalism (SN) Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost (SN) Ondaatje, Anil’s GhostFeb 19 Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost Ondaatje, Anil’s Ghost Lahiri, Interpreter (SN) Feb 26 Lahiri, Interpreter Lahiri, Interpreter Lahiri, InterpreterMarch 5 Nortje poetry (AT) Nortje poetry Nortje poetryMarch 12 Nortje poetry Levy, Small Island (SN) Levy, Small Island March 19 Levy, Small Island Human Rights Day Levy, Small Island

Week ROMANTICISM AND REVOLUTION

Tuesday 16:05(Chem Minor)

Wednesday 12:20(Chem Minor)

Thursday 14:15(Chem Minor)

April 9 Romanticism (DK) Dialectical Blake Diabolical BlakeApril 16 Blake and Empire The Limits of Knowledge Wordsworth on TourApril 23 Wordsworth’s Resolution Imagination, Form, Sublime Coleridge’s LossApril 30 Workers’ Day Coleridge’s Companion Good, True, BeautifulMay 7 Keats’s Region of Mind Keats and Death Nature, Woman, SexMay 14 Byron’s Nameless Grace Byron as Slave of Love Shelley’s Fair FormMay 21 Shelley’s Destroyer Radical Ecology Romanticism Rewound

Essays:Friday 9 March: Ondaatje (SN)Friday 11 May: Blake / Wordsworth (DK)

Exams:Transnational Literature (3 hours): Lahiri (SN), Nortje (AT), Levy (SN)Romanticism (3 hours): All the poems covered in lectures and tutorials (DK)

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SECOND SEMESTER

Week REGIONALISM IN ENGLISH AND SA FICTION

Tuesday 16:05(Chem Minor)

Wednesday 12:20(Chem Minor)

Thursday 14:15(Chem Minor)

July 16 Regionalism (DK) Mandela Day Brontë, HeightsJuly 23 Brontë, Heights Brontë, Heights Brontë, HeightsJuly 30 Schreiner, Farm Schreiner, Farm Schreiner, FarmAug 6 Schreiner, Farm Lawrence, Rainbow Women’s DayAug 13 Lawrence, Rainbow Lawrence, Rainbow Lawrence, RainbowAug 20 Coetzee, Disgrace Coetzee, Disgrace Coetzee, Disgrace

Mid-semester break

Week THE MODERNIST REVOLT

Tuesday 16:05(Chem Minor)

Wednesday 12:20(Chem Minor)

Thursday 14:15(Chem Minor)

Sept 3 Modernism (JM) Joyce, Artist Joyce, ArtistSept 10 Joyce, Artist Joyce, Artist Joyce, ArtistSept 17 Eliot, Poems Eliot, Poems Eliot, PoemsSept 24 Eliot, Poems Eliot, Poems Woolf, Lighthouse Oct 1 Woolf, Lighthouse Woolf, Lighthouse Woolf, LighthouseOct 8 Woolf, Lighthouse Faulkner, Dying (PW) Faulkner, DyingOct 15 Faulkner, Dying Faulkner, Dying Faulkner, Dying

Essays:Friday 17 August: Brontë / Schreiner (DK)Friday 12 October: Joyce / Eliot (JM)

Exams:Regionalism (3 hours): Brontë, Schreiner, Lawrence, Coetzee (DK) Modernist Revolt (3 hours): Joyce (JM), Eliot (JM), Woolf (JM), Faulkner (PW)

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14.2 Tutorial timetable

FIRST SEMESTER

Week TRANSNATIONAL LITERATUREFeb 12 No tutorialFeb 19 Intro to TransnationalismFeb 26 Ondaatje, Anil’s GhostMarch 5 Lahiri, Interpreter of MaladiesMarch 12 Nortje poetryMarch 19 Levy, Small Island

Mid-semester breakROMANTICISM AND REVOLUTION

April 9 Barbauld, “The Rights of Woman”April 16 Blake, “Auguries of Innocence”April 23 Wordsworth, “Expostulation” & “Tables Turned”April 30 Blake / Wordsworth essay topicsMay 7 Coleridge, “The Eolian Harp”May 14 Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”May 21 John Clare, “I Am”

SECOND SEMESTER

Week REGIONALISM IN ENGLISH AND SA FICTIONJuly 16 Intro to RegionalismJuly 23 Brontë, Wuthering HeightsJuly 30 Schreiner, The Story of an African FarmAug 6 Brontë / Schreiner essay topicsAug 13 Lawrence, The RainbowAug 20 Coetzee, Disgrace

Mid-semester breakWeek THE MODERNIST REVOLTSept 3 Intro to ModernismSept 10 Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young ManSept 17 Eliot poetrySept 24 Eliot poetryOct 1 Joyce / Eliot essay topicsOct 8 Woolf, To the LighthouseOct 15 Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

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